Fite Albert

Rain poured down.

Guo Shuai lay in the muddy grass, staring at the Humvee ahead.

When he clearly saw the scattered firearms next to the bone-white skeletons, he didn't loot the bodies like the "rats" would.

Instead...

He subconsciously took half a step back.

"Something's not right..."

Guo Shuai narrowed his eyes, rainwater sliding down his cheeks.

Although the armbands on the corpses were tattered, he recognized them at a glance as the flag of the Cherry Blossom Country.

"A fully armed special forces team... with Heavy Machine Guns and Sniper Rifles, yet wiped out in an instant?"

"And not even the slightest sign of decent resistance, the guns are even new..."

The extreme sense of incongruity made Guo Shuai's scalp tingle.

Although his subconscious Danger Sense hadn't triggered yet, a primal, instinctual fear was screaming wildly.

Run!

There's great terror here!

Guo Shuai gritted his teeth, his heels already slightly raised, ready to turn and flee.

But in the next second, Jiangnan's words, "My team doesn't need trash," deeply stung his heart.

"No!!"

Guo Shuai abruptly stopped his retreat, his eyes turning ferocious.

"I can't leave!"

"I'm the scout! I'm the team's eyes!"

"If I get scared away before even entering the door, what face do I have to go back and see the Boss?"

"What qualifications would I have to take Old Yang to see the world?!"

"At least... at least I have to bring back something useful!"

"To confirm if this is the location of the Signal Tower!"

(He) went all out!

Guo Shuai took a deep breath, trusting his Danger Sense and that somewhat unreliable Eye of Calamity.

Fortune favors the bold!

He crouched, using the rain as cover, and quickly moved towards the Humvee.

Teaching building, second floor, Class 3-2.

"Tsk tsk..."

Lu Shiyan stood by the window, holding a military-grade telescope, the cigarette butt in his mouth glowing on and off.

"Another one who doesn't know their limits."

In the lens, Guo Shuai's disheveled yet determined figure was clearly visible.

"Judging by his posture, he's probably after your companions' guns."

Lu Shiyan shook his head. "People die for wealth, birds die for food."

Beside him, Hoshino lowered her head, still lost in the sorrow of being hated by her own compatriots, and remained silent.

"Hmph, boring."

Lu Shiyan put down the telescope and was about to turn away.

Yekaterina, who had been leaning against the other window, also noticed Guo Shuai.

Her pair of azure eyes suddenly changed, her pupils instantly contracting into narrow, golden vertical slits.

She stared at a spot in the rain, her red lips parting slightly.

"They're here."

School entrance.

The rain intensified, pounding on the car roof.

Guo Shuai had reached the corpse.

His movements were swift. First, he grabbed the NG-7 machine gun from the ground and slung it around his neck.

Then, his hand reached for the fully equipped M416 rifle beside Ono's corpse.

His gaze again fell upon the High Explosive Grenade on the corpse's tactical vest.

"I'm rich..."

The moment his fingers touched the gun's body.

In the curtain of rain at this moment, a figure was hiding within the falling raindrops, constantly leaping and shifting through the refraction of light and shadow!

With a speed the naked eye couldn't capture, it swiftly approached the back of Guo Shuai's head!

It was at this very instant.

BUZZ!!!

In Guo Shuai's mind, his Danger Sense went off the charts! Red lights exploded!

That chill of death was stronger than ever before!

Before his brain could issue a command.

In his left eye socket, the dormant Eye of Calamity seemed to receive a massive stimulus, instantly activating automatically!

[Warning! Warning!]

[Detected a lethal-level life crisis! Host reacting too slowly!]

[Forcibly taking over body! Auto-counterattack mode activated!]

The next moment.

Guo Shuai felt his soul squeezed into a corner.

His body, without any muscle tension, performed a movement that defied ergonomics.

Facing forward, it instantly executed a lightning-fast backflip!

Mid-air, his body inverted, the M416 in his hands and the machine gun on his neck were raised simultaneously.

Towards the patch of rain curtain in front of where he had been standing, he slammed the trigger!

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

At the same time, his teeth bit down on the pull ring of a grenade on the tactical vest.

Click!

With a flick of his neck, the grenade flew towards that patch of rain curtain like a cannonball!

Landed, rolled, got up, fled!

The series of movements were fluid and natural, so fast that only afterimages remained.

BOOM!!

The violent explosion of a grenade sounded from behind, firelight instantly engulfing the rain in that area.

The Danger Sense alarm cut off abruptly.

This moment, only 1.4 seconds had passed!

"What... the hell?"

Guo Shuai, who had already fled dozens of meters, was completely stunned.

His brain couldn't keep up with his body's rhythm at all.

He only knew that something invisible had tried to kill him just now.

And his left eye, to save his life, had directly reacted instinctively.

"Where's the monster? The information?"

Guo Shuai shouted in his mind while being controlled to flee.

However, the Eye of Calamity completely ignored him.

Instead, it manipulated his legs as if they had motors, charging down the mountain without looking back.

Just then.

BZZZT!

Danger Sense rang out again!

Guo Shuai looked back in terror, but saw nothing but the sky full of rain!

Only when he rushed to the end of the downhill road in one go, leaving the school grounds, did the alarm in his mind finally disappear.

[Crisis resolved.]

[Automatic counterattack ended, body control returned.]

"Hoo... hoo..."

Guo Shuai sat down in the muddy water with a plop, gasping for breath, his heart pounding in his chest.

But immediately after, an unnamable anger surged.

It wasn't just the fear of the unknown monster, but more so the rage that this eyeball had controlled his body without permission!

What is this?

Am I the Host or a puppet?!

"Are you fucking self-aware?!"

Guo Shuai roared at the air, like a lunatic: "Come out! Stop playing dead!"

But the Eye of Calamity remained unresponsive, as if everything that just happened was an illusion.

"Fine... playing dead, huh?"

Guo Shuai laughed in anger, a wild glint flashing in his eyes.

"First, you discriminated against the Boss and Wang Meng, then you let me win like a maggot, and now you act on your own without giving me intel!"

"Do you really think I, Guo Shuai, am made of clay?!"

He abruptly got up from the ground, grabbed his machine gun, and turned to head towards the school on the mountain.

"Fine! You won't talk, right?"

"Then let's go back! I'll go deliver food to that monster right now! We'll all die here together!!"

As he spoke, he truly started walking, with a look of utter determination as he charged back.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Just as he was about to re-enter the danger zone.

The Eye of Calamity, which had been playing dead, finally couldn't hold back.

It was genuinely afraid of death!

How could this Host be a lunatic!

"No, no, no! Stop! Hurry and stop!!"

An ancient and exasperated voice sounded in Guo Shuai's mind.

"This God concedes, alright?! It's my fault! I shouldn't have messed with you! Please don't go forward, Ancestor!!"

Guo Shuai stopped in his tracks and let out a cold laugh.

"Hmph! You know to concede now?"

"Weren't you so impressive just now? Acting all aloof and system-like?"

"What a coward!"

The voice clearly didn't want to argue with this lunatic and quickly agreed.

"Yes, yes, yes! This God is a coward! This God is the biggest coward in the entire Barbaric Realm!"

"Please, just go back! Don't go any further! We can't afford to provoke that monster! We'll get eaten!"

"Can't afford to provoke?"

Guo Shuai, however, was relentless and threatened while standing his ground.

"Then give me information on that monster! Let me see what kind of thing it is! Otherwise, I'm going forward!"

"Oh, kid!"

The ancient voice was filled with helplessness.

"It's not that I won't give it to you, it's that guy is too insidious!"

"It's hiding in every falling drop of rain! I can't directly lock onto and scan it!"

"Unless the rain stops, or it reveals its true form, I can't see its stats panel!"

"Water droplets?"

Guo Shuai was startled.

"No wonder I couldn't see anything just now. It was hiding in the rain."

"How the hell am I supposed to fight this?"

He took a deep breath and asked the crucial question.

"So what's your deal? Why did Sister Liu appraise you as a Weird Artifact before, but now you're a chatterbox?"

Hearing this question, the ancient voice immediately became haughty.

"Hmph, that little girl's Appraisal skill?"

"It's decent for dealing with inanimate objects, I even want it myself, but it's quite useless for living things because there's a lot of room for manipulation!"

"Let alone me!"

"This God has roamed the Barbaric Realm for over a thousand years, been revered by the world as 'God', and is the greatest wizard!"

"Fite Albert!!"

"What?!"

Guo Shuai's eyes widened: "You're called Fite Albert?!"

"Hmph, mortal."

Fite said triumphantly, "How is it? Scared by my thunderous name? Tremble!"

However.

The expected worship did not appear.

The next second.

"Pfft..."

Guo Shuai couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing in the rain.

"Hahahaha! Scared? I was indeed scared!"

"I really didn't expect that the reason a great demon who created an S-class BOSS was born was because..."

Guo Shuai's expression became incredibly vivid as he said.

"Because a scum couple exposed some great god's childhood embarrassment at their wedding!"

"Hahahaha! It's even more outrageous than Fang Yuan selling his ass! This is hilarious!"

The diary that Jiangnan had thrown into the trash can later became reading material for the people in the car when they were bored.

Especially Guo Shuai, because he had implanted this eye, he read that diary most diligently, not missing a single punctuation mark.

"..."

The voice in his mind instantly disappeared.

Immediately after, Guo Shuai felt a burning sensation in his left eye socket, like a boiling teapot.

It was red hot.

The arrogant demeanor he had just displayed shattered instantly, leaving not even a speck of dust.

Fite, angered, pulled down his eyelids and unilaterally cut off the connection, completely shutting himself down and going on strike.

"Tch, stingy ghost."

Guo Shuai didn't bother with him anymore.

Anyway, he had gotten all the information he needed, and he even got a machine gun, a fully equipped rifle, and a few grenades for free.

This was a huge profit.

"Now, I should be able to report to Boss."

##DONE## Guo Shuai grinned, wiped the rain from his face, slung his gun over his shoulder, and turned to run.

Inside Class 3-2.

Lu Shiyan lowered his binoculars, his smile now directed at Guo Shuai.

"This guy..."

He watched the other man's agile retreating figure and couldn't help but sigh.

"He's actually a master in disguise?"

"Not only is his reaction speed ridiculously fast, but he also managed to escape unharmed from the 'Hungry Ghost's' sneak attack."

"He even managed to swipe two guns on the way..."

Yekaterina, standing beside him, retracted her vertical pupils, a hint of solemnity in her eyes.

"He's likely a very high-level perception or reflex-type Supernatural Ability user."

"His Level... is at least A-Class."

The two exchanged a glance, seeing the apprehension in each other's eyes.

Lu Shiyan lit another cigarette, remarking with emotion.

"Fortunately, he ran fast and wasn't eaten by the Hungry Ghost, nor did he foolishly charge into the school."

"Otherwise..."

He exhaled a smoke ring, his gaze drifting towards the depths of the corridor behind them.

"Our troubles would have been even greater~"

Hoshino, who had been cowering beside them, couldn't see the specific battle situation through the rain.

But she had clearly heard the loud explosion and the gunshots earlier.

She mustered her courage and asked.

"Mr. Lu... Miss Yekaterina..."

"That person's Strength seems very high... and you are also very strong..."

"Since you aren't afraid of the Monster outside, why... why don't you leave this school?"

In her opinion, all they had to do was fight their way out, right?

Lu Shiyan and Yekaterina both laughed after listening.

Their laughter held a hint of helplessness, a touch of desolation.

"Little Girl."

Lu Shiyan turned around, looking at the innocent Newcomer.

"Didn't I tell you?"

"There... isn't just one ghost here."

As he spoke, Lu Shiyan pulled open the collar of his windbreaker, revealing his Neck.

Yekaterina also rolled up her sleeves, revealing her fair arms.

On both of their skin.

A mark emitting Black Qi was clearly imprinted.

It was a...

Distorted human face, screaming in agony.